Silver River

Start

August 13, 2016

End

February 12, 2017

The exhibition Silver River is based on the sculptural piece Silver River – Mississippi by architect, artist, and environmental activist Maya Lin and it seeks to present various viewpoints about the Upper Mississippi River by Minnesota-based artists. The artists featured span cultures and centuries, and have been chosen to highlight both the controversy surrounding the Mississippi and it’s importance to The Twin Cities.

Silver is often thought of as a luxurious metal molded into ornate jewelry and other high quality objects. Like a beautifully crafted piece of silver jewelry, the “Great Mississippi” River travels an intricate path through our country. Metaphorically serving as an elaborate silver mirror, the waters of the Mississippi River reflect both the progress and destruction of our civilization.

Many of the greatest cities in history were established on great rivers. Through a replenishing supply of freshwater and natural waterways, rivers like the Tiber and the Nile functioned as the building blocks of communities and economies, creating great cities such as Rome and Cairo, respectively. These rivers functioned as energy, travel passages, trade routes and sewage systems. Over time, the progress of civilization became the destruction, and the rivers suffered, becoming polluted through their overuse.

The Mississippi River is no exception to this process, and the phrase “silver river” is somewhat ironic in describing the waters transformed by industrialization from pure freshwater into a mucky, polluted counterpart. Despite this, it still serves as a silvery beacon of artistic inspiration, and a reflection of our society’s impact on the environment. The artists in this show have not shied away from the problematic state of the river, and instead have used it as a source of artistic inspiration, shining light on the cultural and economical significance of the Mississippi River.

Photograph of volunteers at river clean-up by Caitlyn Carr This Fall, WAM Collective is partnering with local artist Sean Connaughty to perform an Anthropocenic Midden Survey of the Mississippi River. On August 13, WAM Collective, students from the Sustainability Office, Sean Connaughty, and volunteers from the community collected trash from the banks of the Mississippi River to be cleaned, studied, and catalogued in a survey of the impact of University of Minnesota litter on the waters and surrounding eco-system. In…

Jim Denomie was a University of Minnesota art student when he began the work of re-claiming his tribal heritage and re-connecting with his Native identity. Nearly twenty years later, he is nationally known for his humorous, critical depictions of United States history and religion. His paintings address colonization, assimilation, white washing, and other violences that the Native population has suffered at the hands of Western European colonizers. Denomie currently lives in Franconia, MN while his work resides in collections all over Minnesota and throughout…

Bring your book club to the museum and enjoy the connections from the literary to the artwork on the walls. This fall WAM is excited to offer you three hand-selected books to read in conjunction with our exhibitions. The WAM Book Club is an optional reading list that you and your literary-loving friends can choose from, read, and then schedule a private, custom tour with a tour guide who also read your book of choice. The tour will include a…